From: "Walter Lippmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Subject: [CubaNews] CubaNews summary 11-1-2001

CubaNews summary November 1, 2001
================================

THE WHAT AND WHERE OF TERRORISM
GRANMA October 31, 2001

BY JULIO CESAR MEJIAS CARDENAS
(Special for Granma International)

FAMILIAR blemishes on the face of the White House
are being revealed every day in favor of innocent civilians
who continue to be the principal victims of the war and...
genocide.

The Afghan civilian population continues to be the main
victim of U.S. bombardments. In the photo, a devastated
father weeps over the body of his little son. (see photo:
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/octu5/44terror-i.html )

It would seem that only the U.S. government and its allies
in the ignominious aggression being suffered by Afghanistan
believe that international terrorism can be destroyed by
attacks on that Central Asian nation.

What is terrorism for George W. Bush and his supporters in
the government? At this stage of the aggression - the fourth
week of implacable and criminal bombardments - the United
States has still not produced any evidence that Osama Bin
Laden masterminded the September 11 attacks.

The millionaire Saudi Arabian lives on Afghan soil and is
being ceaselessly sought as the man responsible for various
acts of terrorism against U.S. interests, but that country
might have overlooked that it was its security services that
made him what he is. The objective is to destroy him, even
though civilian victims continue increasing, as confirmed by
images from Qatar's Al Jazeera television network.

The principal economic and military fiefdoms of the
'invulnerable' U.S. empire have been attacked and now fear
stalks alleys, streets and cities throughout the country.
Many of its citizens cannot understand the reasons behind
the attacks, as they are unaware of the policy of war and
conflicts generated by successive U.S. governments in
various parts of the world over more than one century, for
the sake of political and economic expansionist interests.

What is the terrorism that they are combating in
Afghanistan? One that is no longer convenient, since they
are ignoring the torturers and killers being sheltered in
U.S. territory, those who will never be forgotten by the
Latin American peoples after decades of bloody
dictatorships and genocide.

Where are they combating terrorism? In one of the poorest
nations of the planet, which does not have any significant
economic or military objectives, or rather, has nothing of
interest to the West apart from its oil reserves and certain
mineral resources. The terrible military apparatus the U.S.
government and its allies claim is possessed by the Taliban
forces is no more than a fantasy. In Afghanistan there is no
war or military conflict between two nations, just the
slaughter of the civilian population and some members of an
indigenous militia at the hands of the most powerful armies
in world history.

How? The United States and its allies are bombarding
military objectives for hours on end and missiles are
"accidentally" landing on residential districts, mosques and
stores belonging to the Red Cross and United Nations, where
the scant food supplies arriving from abroad as humanitarian
aid are kept. However, the great hypocrisy of the current
warfare is to alternate the bombardments with dropping food
parcels over a destroyed Kabul or the abandoned settlements
of Afghan geography.

So, who are the terrorists? Are the United States and its
allies by chance forgetting their support for Israel, which
has not halted its military action against the Palestinians,
and continues to violate the integrity of the autonomous
cities and to occupy territories belonging to other Arab
nations.

Syria, for example, ratified before Spaniard Miguel Angel
Morantinos, the European Union special envoy to the Middle
East, its call on the UN to fairly define the term
terrorism. Damascus has affirmed that it does not agree with
the U.S. point of view in relation to the Arab organizations
that are fighting against the foreign occupation of their
territories, and defends the Palestinian and Lebanese
resistance, especially the struggle of the Palestinian
people against the constant aggression of the Israeli
government, incapable of respecting the cease-fire
agreements.

Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, directly told the
Israelis that they are also responsible for terrorism, given
their refusal to apply the peace accords reached with the
Palestinian people. The leader roundly rejected equating the
Palestinian struggle with terrorism: "they are battling to
recover their lands and if I advocate a Palestinian state, I
do so also for the security of the Israelis."

In Tehran, Kamal Jarazi, Iranian foreign affairs minister,
reiterated his country's opposition to the U.S. attacks and
affirmed that it is the government of the United States that
"is converting terrorists into heroes." He added that the
anti-terrorism campaign will be unsuccessful until the
causes of the phenomenon and the genocide of the
Palestinian and other Arab peoples are eliminated.

The president of that nation, Mohammad Khatami, went
further: "Destruction, hunger and the death of innocent
people cannot be the price of the campaign against
terrorism. The world battle against this scourge has to be
carried out under the mandate and supervision of the United
Nations."

Moreover, an inflexible point has been reached in
international relations, given that after almost one month
of barbarity and desolation in Afghanistan, the Western
powers continue to marginalize the UN and its decision
making process. In addition, there is still no common
position within the European Union in respect to the
military action against Kabul: Britain immediately committed
itself to the U.S. cause, while Germany continues to talk of
sending in troops.

When will the agony and pain of Afghans faced with the
mowing down of their children, elderly and women by U.S.
shelling end? Nobody knows and the worst part of it is that
they are continuing to be the victims of the terrorism that
the United States says it is combating.
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/octu5/44terror-i.html
==========================================

TARIQ ALI ARRESTED IN GERMANY
JOHN PILGER: TERRORISM WAR A FRAUD
Hear these and other extensive interviews on
Democracy NOW! in Exile for October 31, 2001:
http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/exile.html
=====================================

RUSSIA BIDS FAIRWELL TO CUBA (PRAVDA)
19:50 2001-10-29

RUSSIA BIDS FAREWELL TO CUBA

History repeats itself over and over again about
Russia. "Russians, get out!", - yelled the people
of the Baltic countries in 1990. "Russians, go home,"
 - yelled the people in the Asian republics in 1991.
"Russians, get out of Cuba!", - were the screams
in the capital of Cuba yesterday.

The demonstrations under anti-Russian slogans
took place in Havana yesterday. This was the
reaction of the Cuban population to the withdrawal
of the Russian army base from Lourdes.

The reaction of the official Cuban authorities is not
much different from what could be heard in the
streets of Havana, although it was shaped in the
smooth diplomatic forms. Cuba considered the
withdrawal of the Russian army base to be
"a special present" from Vladimir Putin to American
President George W. Bush. This phrase says it all,
Russia is called "American bootlicker," insinuating
with its recent enemy. The tone of the Cuban mass
media is the same.

It seems that Russia has been deprived of not
only the military base in the region but also of an ally.
That base, by the way, received 75% of the entire
military and strategic information on America.
Russia does not now have a country with which
we had good relations with before. A year ago,
this seemed impossible. Putin toured all the allies
of the former USSR, and it seemed that there was
considerable progress in that respect. Putin visited
the military base in Lourdes as well, the base that is
now being shut down according to his own instructions.

It is very surprising how Russia is making the relations
with its allies null and void. The local population in the
unrecognized republic of Abkhazia is protesting the
withdrawal of the Russian troops, but the Russian
soldiers are leaving the territory of the republic
anyway. Cuba asks not to liquidate the army
base, offering to revise the leasing conditions,
but the base is being removed.
What other reaction may follow?

Reuters photo :
The secret Russian listening station at Lourdes
some 30 km south of Havana is seen in this
December 13, 2000 file photograph
PHOTO AT PRAVDA WEBSITE:
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/10/29/19496.html
==========================================

"PLANET RICE" ON HAVANA TRADE FAIR:
U.S. Rice to Exhibit at Cuba Trade Show,
Oct. 28-Nov. 4
This will be the first time Cubans
can try U.S. rice in 40 years, USA Rice says

October 30, 2001

The USA Rice Federation (USA Rice) will exhibit
U.S. rice and rice products in the 19th International Fair,
Oct. 28-Nov. 4, in Havana, Cuba.

"Participation in the International Fair in Cuba is a
diversification of our market outreach efforts to this
country," said USA Rice Council Chairman Jimmy Hoppe, a
Louisiana rice producer, in a 26 Oct. USA Rice Federation
press release.

"USA Rice has been involved from the beginning in the fight
to obtain sanctions to reform legislation that allows food
and medicine sales from the United States to Cuba," Hoppe
said.

Staffing the booth at the fair will be Marvin Lehrer, USA
Rice Director, Latin America, and Promotions Director Gaby
Carbajal, USA Rice Mexico. Lehrer and Carbajal will promote
U.S.-grown rice to fair attendees in a variety of ways,
including cooking demonstrations and taste testings.

U.S. long grain rice will be on display in the USA Rice
booth in 1-pound, 5-pound, 10-pound, and 25-pound
packages. A variety of boxed flavored rice mixes will
also be displayed.

This will be the first opportunity for Cuban consumers to
experience U.S. rice in nearly 40 years, USA Rice claims.

Until 1962 Cuba was the top export market for U.S. rice.
Trade sanctions imposed that year have cost American rice
farmers an estimated $3 billion. A recent U.S. International
Trade Commission report estimates that U.S. rice exports to
Cuba could total nearly $60 million annually.

Long-awaited regulations that implement last year's trade
reform legislation took effect in July. A purchase by Cuba
of U.S. rice is the next step needed to reopen the market
for American farmers, Hoppe said.

"A purchase of U.S. rice by Cuba would provide a tremendous
boost to our efforts to obtain further sanctions reform," he
said. "Displaying and providing samples of U.S. rice at the
International Fair in Cuba allows us to showcase
high-quality products that are available for purchase."

The 10-day fair Cuba's largest and most important trade
show, and is jointly sponsored by Cuba's Ministry of Foreign
Trade, the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Cuba,
and Havana's International Conference Center.

USA Rice is a federation of U.S. rice producers, millers and
allied businesses working together to address common
challenges, advocate collective interests, and create
opportunities to strengthen the long-term economic viability
of the U.S. rice industry. USA Rice members are active in
all rice-producing states: Arkansas, California, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas. The U.S. Rice Producers'
Group, USA Rice Council and Rice Millers' Association are
charter members of USA Rice.

Contact: Cyndie Shearing-Sirekis, (703) 351-8161
http://www.planetrice.net/newspub/story.cfm?id=1215
========================================

THE VICTIMS (excerpt from a longer article
on those killed on September 11, 2001) from
the New York Times of 10-31-2001)

SCOTT JOHNSON
Song of a Wayfarer

Because Americans rarely travel to Cuba,
Scott Johnson had to go. He and his friend
Steve Selwood spent five days in Havana in
1998, listening to music in one bar after another.
Because he graduated with a minor in Jewish
Studies from Trinity College in Hartford, he had
to explore Egypt. There, Scott and his friends
made their way into a pyramid off-limits to tourists.

And before a second jet crashed into 2 World
Trade Center, where Mr. Johnson worked as an
analyst for Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, he was
making plans to visit South America next summer
to explore a culture that fascinated him.

Mr. Johnson, 26, played golf with his father in
Montclair, N.J., where he grew up, and cheered
the Yankees from his couch. He was cherished
for his quiet, firm sense of what was important:
family, friends, knowledge and adventure.

For Eric Kusseluk, Mr. Johnson was the best
friend who took calls at 3 a.m. when Mr. Kusseluk's
mother was dying of cancer. For Mr. Johnson's
father, Tom, he was the child devoid of any
meanness. For friends who loved music as
he did, he was a generous investor in a new
live-music club in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The fire of his passions changed you, people
said. His brother, Tom, is still reading the book
he recommended a few months ago: a biography
of Che Guevara. And Mr. Selwood is still hoping
to take that trip to South America someday.
=================================

PREVENTATIVE POLICY -
LETTER TO THE EDITOR, MIAMI HERALD:

Re the Oct. 29 letter Wrong focus, which said
that if Janet Reno and the Immigration and
Naturalization Service had paid more attention
to the terrorists coming into this country and
less to Eli�n Gonz�lez, both catastrophes
would have been prevented.

I say that if this country established normal
relationships with Cuba, then Eli�n, balseros
drowning at sea and other tragedies would
have been prevented.


CELIA TORRES
Miami Beach

http://www.miami.com/herald/content/opinion/letters/digdocs/107354.htm
====================================

$4M AID FOR CUBAN AND HAITIAN IMMIGRANTS
MIAMI � Miami-Dade County has landed a $4 million
federal grant that will be used for programs familiarizing
newly arrived Haitian and Cuban immigrants with their
rights and responsibilities under the American system
of law enforcement. DETAILS:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?slug=sfl%2Ddgrant0
1nov01
======================================

EXPLOSIVES TRIAL TO BEGIN IN HAVANA
The Sun-Sentinel's Vanessa Bauza reports:
(and note carefully their living conditions)

HAVANA � Three Guatemalans accused of
smuggling explosives into the Havana airport
in tubes of toothpaste and shampoo bottles to
bomb tourist hotels will go to trial today,
after more than three years in jail.

According to the Cuban government, the foiled
plot was financed and directed by the Miami-based
Cuban American National Foundation.

Prosecutors are seeking 20- to 30-year sentences
for the defendants, although under Cuban law the
charge could be punishable by death.

Guatemala's Ambassador Hugo Ren� Guzm�n
Maldonado said the prisoners have been living in
the Guanajay prison in Havana for the past
31/2 years. "I've found them in good health and
in normal psychological condition for someone
detained," said Guzm�n Maldonado, who visited
the prisoners on Saturday. "They've had medical
care when they needed it. The couple [Gonz�lez
Meza and Fern�ndez Mendoza] lives together."

Frozen for 38 years, diplomatic relations between
Cuba and Guatemala were re-established in
January 1998, following the pope's visit.
FULL STORY:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?slug=sfl%2Dacuba01
nov01
===================================

GUATAMALAN TRIO ON TRIAL IN HAVANA

Published Wednesday, October 31, 2001
in the Miami Herald

Three jailed in '98 over Cuba
bombings go to trial this week
BY NANCY SAN MARTIN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Three Guatemalans jailed in Cuba since 1998 for allegedly
participating in a bombing campaign at tourist spots are
expected to go to court this week to face terrorism charges.

The trial for Mar�a Elena Gonz�lez Meza de Fern�ndez, 57,
her husband Jazid Iv�n Fern�ndez Mendoza, 31, and Nadel
Kamal Musalam, also 31, is scheduled to begin Thursday.

Cuban prosecutors are seeking maximum sentences of 20 to 30
years in the cases.

The three were arrested in March 1998. Cuban authorities
allegedly discovered explosive materials hidden in luggage.

``These three years have been really hard,'' said Gladis de
Fern�ndez, mother of Jazid Iv�n Fern�ndez. ``My son is a goo
d person.''

De Fern�ndez said she did not believe her son was involved
in any sort of bombing attempts in Cuba.

All three of the defendants are formally charged with
``crimes against state security.''

Cuban authorities have publicly labeled them terrorists and
suggested they are tied with a Central American terrorist
network responsible for a string of bombings in Havana and
the resort city of Varadero, including one that killed an
Italian tourist in 1997.

The Cuban government also has alleged links between the
bombings and Fidel Castro's opponents in Miami. Cuba has
long claimed itself as a victim of terror tactics financed
by Cuban Americans in exile.

Guatemalan officials had previously expressed outrage over
the persistent delay of the trial, which culminated with
Guatemala joining a United Nations vote in April to censure
Cuba for its human rights record.

``Since '99 the Guatemalan government has focused efforts on
getting them to trial,'' said Edgar Arana, the Guatemalan
Foreign Ministry spokesman. ``We ask that the trial take
place, though what happens in the trial is part of Cuba's
internal legal system, which we respect.''

Relatives hope sentences can be served in Guatemala, but
Arana said ``there are no treaties with Cuba about that.''

De Fern�ndez said she did not understand why the judicial
process in Cuba has taken so long.

``I just hope it's a fair trial and that my son can come
home.''

Guatemala correspondent Megan Feldman contributed to this
report, which was supplemented with Herald wire services.
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/carib/cuba/digdocs/099599.htm
===================================

HEAVY RAINS OVER EASTERN CUBA

Eastern Cuba drying out after heavy rains
cause river overflow
Associated Press

October 31, 2001, 3:34 PM EST

HAVANA -- Eastern Cuba was drying out Wednesday after
heavy rains earlier in the week caused a river to overflow,
briefly forcing several thousand people from their homes,
state media said.

There were no reports of injuries or deaths.

The Sagua River in Sagua de Tanamo in the eastern state of
Holguin, overflowed overnight Monday and caused the
evacuation of more than 3,000 people, state television said.
Sagua de Tanamo is in a remote area in the easternmost part
of the Caribbean island.

Of those evacuated, about 950 people were housed temporarily
in government shelters, according to the government
broadcast late Tuesday. About 400 homes were flooded, it
added.

A woman who answered the telephone at the provincial
newspaper Ahora on Wednesday said the rains had stopped
and many of the evacuees were returning home.
Copyright � 2001, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
======================================

CELIA CRUZ DISCUSSES THE LATIN GRAMMYS
(and tells Lydia Martin how swell she (CC) is:

The second annual show originally was to have
been telecast from Miami. But the threat of protest
against artists from Cuba prompted organizers
to move the show back to Los Angeles.
It got scrapped after the terrorist attacks.

Much of the controversy brewing in Miami over the
participation of Cuban artists involved Cruz's category.
She was up against two other grande dames of
Cuban music -- country singer Celina Gonz�lez,
and the queen of feeling, Omara Portuondo.

All in their 70s, they had been friends before
Fidel Castro took power. But they drew lines of
separation when Celia left the island and the
others decided to stay.

Had all three met up for the Latin Grammys,
it would have been a historic reunion. But it was
a reunion -- and a political fraternizing -- some
of Cuban Miami didn't want.

But the three women did see each other
about five years ago in a Cancun hotel.

``We were all there for a festival,'' Cruz said.
``I ran into Celina on a staircase. I wasn't going
to ignore her. We had been friends in Cuba.
So I said hello and she said hello.''

Later that day she ran into Portuondo, whose
career had suffered over the years, until the
Buena Vista Social Club CDs helped revive it.

``I said hello. And I invited her to eat. She was
getting a very small per diem from Cuba for
performing outside the island. And she had
been my colleague and friend in the old days.

``I invited her to eat, not because I agree with
her support of the Cuban government.
But because I thought she could use
a good meal.'' FULL STORY:
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/features/digdocs/075773.htm
====================================

JUAN BOSCH, FRIEND OF CUBA, DIES 11/1

Ex-Dominican Republic President Dies
By ANDRES CALA
Associated Press Writer

November 1 2001, 4:00 AM PST

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- Former
President Juan Bosch died Thursday after a lengthy stay
in the hospital, his personal physician said. He was 92.

Bosch died around 3 a.m., when respiratory failure caused
his heart to stop, Dr. Pedro Urena told The Associated
Press. He had been receiving treatment for several ailments,
including neurological and respiratory problems, in the Abel
Gonzalez Advanced Medical Center.

It was unclear when he would be buried but the funeral would
take place in his home of Lavega, a rural farming town about
60 miles northwest of Santo Domingo, the capital.

Earlier in the week, a blood clot in his leg had delayed his
release from the hospital, where he had been since Sept. 28.
In August, he had undergone a lung operation.

The first democratically elected leader of the Dominican
Republic, Bosch was elected president in December 1962 after
the assassination of dictator Rafael Trujillo. He was ousted
in 1963 by soldiers who accused him of being a communist.

In 1965, leftist soldiers led an uprising demanding Bosch be
restored. President Lyndon Johnson, fearing a Cuban-style
revolution, sent in 20,000 Marines.

U.S. troops occupied Santo Domingo for several months until
a provisional government was formed.

Bosch never regained power, but helped found two of the
country's three main political parties. He also wrote more
than 40 books.

"Juan Bosch was a true pillar of democracy," former
President Leonel Fernandez, the veteran politician's
protege, said recently.

In some seven decades in politics, Bosch was a towering
figure. In a 1991 television interview, Bosch quipped that
"the presidency is too small for me, as I already have built
up a political and literary legacy in which my name will
live on."

Copyright 2001 Associated Press

PHOTO: Former Dominican President Juan Bosch,
speaking with Cuban President Fidel Castro in
Havana, Cuba, in an undated file photo.
Bosch died Thursday Nov. 1, 2001, after a lengthy
stay in the hospital, his personal physician said.
He was 92. (AP Photo/File)
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/ap/20011101/wl/1004616441cuba_obit_bosch_ny11
1.html
======================================

TOURISM PLUMETS - IN FLORIDA, TOO
Cuba has felt the aftereffects of 9-11 on its
tourism business, but so has Florida, reports
the Miami Herald, with a 40% occupancy drop.

The numbers are out, the picture is stark, and
the outlook is uncertain. According to Visit Florida,
the state's tourist agency, hotel occupancy
statewide sank 40 percent during the four weeks
ending Oct. 17, and attendance at major
attractions is down 20 percent.

http://www.miami.com/herald/content/business/digdocs/104886.htm
===================================

NICARAGUAN ELECTION COMMENTS:

JEB BUSH ENDORSES ENRIQUE BOLANOS
In a Miami Herald opinion article, the Florida
governer goes all out for Bolanos in a full-length
commentary, including:

When Ortega governed Nicaragua, he instituted
a totalitarian communist regime that violated human
rights, censored the press, aided violent guerrilla
movements in neighboring countries, trampled on
the freedoms of expression and assembly and
thwarted anyone who dared oppose it, forcing
hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans into exile.

Ortega unjustly confiscated properties, including
many owned by U.S. citizens. He still lives in a
house confiscated from its rightful owner.
Some say that Ortega has changed, that years
in the political wilderness have convinced him of
the need for true democracy, open markets and
good relations with his neighbors and the
United States. This is what he would like us to
believe, yet he is a foe of the values for which
the United States stands. He also is a friend of
our foes. He has a 30-year relationship with
states and individuals who harbor and condone
international terrorism.

On the other hand, presidential candidate
Enrique Bola�os is a man whose past
indeed promises a future of freedom.
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/opinion/opcol/digdocs/082495.htm
======================================

BEATRIZ PAREDES, A NEW P.R.I LEADER

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 30 - Her party may be
near collapse, but Beatriz Paredes refuses to
indulge in eulogies...this rare woman at the top
of Mexican politics said with surprising clarity
that if her party wanted to be a credible
opposition force, it must embrace calls for
change, and not feel threatened by them.

Ms. Paredes, 48, has emerged as one of the
prominent architects of the reformed PRI.
Her politics forged in the trenches of Mexico's
peasant movements, she is at once representative
of the party's past and its potential future.

Ms. Paredes is trying to rally both the party faithful
and potential new supporters, and she is seen as
someone who could draw women and young
people back to the PRI.

Her support for feminist causes and her authority
in political circles that are still dominated by men
have helped raise her popularity among women.
Young people see her political style - marked
by colorful Indian clothing that honors her ancestry,
speeches infused with references to literature,
and a deft sense of decorum - as a powerful
contrast to the conservative, pro-business forces
led by President Vicente Fox.

She has drawn attention both for her speeches
and her actions, notably unifying her party, which
for years had battled the Zapatista uprising in
Chiapas, behind an effort to allow the rebels to
address Congress last spring.

In an interview, Ms. Paredes called herself a
center-leftist and a feminist. Some of her priorities
include equal rights for Mexico's Indian minorities,
higher wages for unskilled workers, financial
support for the nation's principal public university
and programs to help lift poor farmers out of
poverty, malnutrition and illiteracy.

"I believe more in the militants
than the elite of the PRI," she said.

In contrast to Mr. Fox, who is a former marketing
executive who once ran Coca-Cola's Mexican
operations and a Roman Catholic who puts his
faith on display, Ms. Paredes embraces the
workers' and peasants' causes on which her
party was founded, and staunchly defends her
party's traditional insistence on separating
church and state.

She was a legislator in her home state, Tlaxcala,
at 21, a member of Congress at 27 and the
second woman to serve as a governor in
Mexico at 33. From there, she served in
several high-level posts, including deputy
interior secretary and ambassador to Cuba.
MUCH LONGER STORY:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/01/international/americas/01MEXI.html
==================================

PRINCIPLES DON'T APPLY TO ALL:
a letter to the editor of the Miami Herald
by William D. Clark, one of the three Miami
firefighters suspended and reinstated later:

Published Thursday, November 1, 2001
in the Miami Herald

Principles don't apply to all

Re Robert Steinback's Oct. 31 column,
Trio's fiery views deserve protection:

The column says that some people call my
philosophy ``anti-white'' racism. I resent being
labeled an anti-white racist. My parents bought
me up better than that.

What has been witnessed over the years is my
reaction to the racist nature of some in this
country who continue to treat me as if am
three-fifths of a man. I take offense at America's
immigration policies that repatriate Haitians while
accepting Cubans with open arms. I take offense
at local housing conditions that would displace
more than 800 black residents of Scott Projects
and give vouchers to only 80 tenants to return
once a newer, more-upscale model is build.

I take offense at America turning the incarceration
of African-American men and women into an industry
for profit and at those who say that African Americans
don't deserve reparations. This country continues to
aid Israel far more than it does blacks who helped
build this country with free labor.

As far as the fire department, when I came on
some 18 years ago, there were widespread
incidents of whites spitting in the food of some
blacks and other inhumane treatment. Today,
there still are some stations where blacks are
afraid to go for fear of some reprisals.

Only weeks before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,
Chief Dave Paulison issued a memo stating that
mistreatment of the public and of black
probationary employees by white and Hispanic
officers will not be tolerated.
But the mistreatment continues.

I've always been taught to treat a person as you
would have them treat you. But I've also been
taught if someone hits you, you hit them back.

I am not and have never been a racist. I graduated
from the University of Northern Iowa where I was
the second black captain on the football team in
the school's history despite there being only four
blacks on the entire squad at one time.

I stand by the assertion that while the principles
of the flag are laudable, I don't think this country
has upheld those principles for all of its citizens.
Until it does, I will continue to hold this country to
the promises that it has made to all of us,
not just a select few.

WILLIAM D.C. CLARK
Miami
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/opinion/letters/digdocs/059637.htm
=====================================



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